We asked students: What Makes a "Perfect ' Foreign Study Prog ram?

About 60 percent of Dartmouth students take advantage of the College's far-ranging offcampus programs—from environmental studies in Kenya to Portuguese in Brazil to art history in Florence. Some take more than one term abroad; they're allowed up to three. We asked a cross-section of undergraduates to invent the "perfect" self-designed foreign-study program.

Most replied instead that the programs are already good. "Scotland was pretty cool as is," said Peter Jastreboff '96. "Great people, good classes, time to travel."

"I wouldn't change much," Unja Hayes '96 said. "However, I would include more traveling and greater opportunities to meet other young people from the study area." Adds Emily Holt '96: "Dartmouth offers an amazing variety of programs. I went on an LSA to Spain and my biggest complaint was that it was too short. I would like to have had more time, maybe a two-term program.. .which involved a family stay... and then traveling."

A small number of our respondents did some inventing. Kevin McGowan '96 e-mailed us: "I would expand the FSPs where English is spoken." Wechecked, and out of 30-35 programs each year there are usually about seven programs in English speaking countries.

Noah Goldberg '96, who took a government FSP in London, wished it had emphasized the "school of life" more and grades less. He reported that a Dartmouth friend also at the London School of Economics, but not on a Dartmouth program, had a much fuller experience. "He was out watching the Queen open Parliament while I was in my room writing a paper."

"My perfect FSP," said Lauren Day '99, "would be in Switzerland, because I could knock out three languages with one stone. I would like to live...with European students my age and teach English at a local school for extra money [and] take advantage of Switzerland's central location for travel. So much of the learning there is peripheral and outside the classroom."

The most inventive FSP suggestion was from Janet Lieberman '96, who enjoyed her language study in Barcelona last spring but now imagines a program in her major, psychology. Well, how about Freud in Vienna?

Psyched for Vienna?At least one studentwouldn't shrink fromthis foreign study.